You Say Goodbye...I Say Hello

Well, it finally came - my last day at my current job is tomorrow......this brings a lot of mixed feelings, but since I knew it was coming for a while now, I suppose I have already worked through all of the emotions of a layoff?  Not sure about that one......

I have never been laid off before, so this was a new experience for me - and NOT a good one.  The company I worked for was acquired in February by a much larger company out of San Diego.  Unfortunately it is very common for HR and Finance/Accounting to get the ax because those functions are best done at the corporate level of the parent company and it makes no sense to double up efforts at a now-division level.

When we first heard the news that we were being acquired - almost a year ago - we in the finance department saw the writing on the wall, but were assured that everything would be fine.  Welllllllllllll..........

Anyway, I have gone through sadness, betrayal, lots of anger, disgust, frustration and everything in between since I found out my job would be eliminated for sure.  This was surely the worst and hardest professional year of my career thus far, but I guess it's just one more struggle that I now have under my belt.  With each one, you learn, grow and find a way to persevere......which just makes you stronger in the end.  I'm sure that someday I will be thankful for this blessing in disguise, but I'm just not far enough out for that yet.  But God has NEVER, not once, left me hanging and abandoned me (even if it felt that way at the time), so I know he has big stuff up ahead for me.  It's just scary and unnerving, but that's what builds character, right??  :)

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

When my Mom was visiting me, she insisted that I have a gun to protect myself and NOW was the time to get one.......it's been something that I have been meaning to get for a while, so it was finally TIME to do it!

We went to Academy Sports & Outdoors and an awesome guy named Frank helped us and answered all of our 1,000 ridiculous questions.....and I walked out with a Ruger LCP 380!

Here's my gun:

Well last weekend I decided that I should really start going to a range and practice shooting if I'm going to be prepared to use it in an emergency, right?  So I headed out to Great Southwest Gun in Grand Prairie.  I hadn't been to this shooting range before, but I was IMPRESSED with the guys there.  They were friendly, knowledgeable, friendly and went above and beyond to help me. 

Since it was my first time shooting my new gun, they oiled the inside, gave me tips, answered my questions and even came back to my lane and helped me put up the target and showed me some techniques to practice different skills!  WOW - now THAT will get you repeat business right there!

Oh, and they have a club of female gun owners and they are going to be having more events for ladies, so they made up an "official" (hahaha) card for me while I was shooting.....look at the picture below of my card - and pay attention to where the targets are on the man.  They thought it was hilarious - and so did I!

GWG = Girls With Guns.  That's what their ladies program is called.  Tuesday nights are Ladies Night - with good discounts on the range fee.  YAY - that might be my new Tuesday tradition to relieve stress.  :)

 And here is my first target from my first trip to the range using my new gun.  Not bad for the first time!  But I want to get those groupings closer to the center "X" with more practice.  I had so much fun and it truly is an exhilerating experience - gets the adrenaline going!

Just An Old Pot

Last week for Thanksgiving, I was responsible for making the mashed potatoes and the recipe that I make requires the potatoes to be baked/warmed in the oven before the meal, so I busted out an oven-safe pot from my cupboard.

This pot is just an ordinary pot - nothing special, nothing pretty, nothing really noteworthy at all....except for what's on the bottom of it.  My Dad is notorious for writing his name on things (even spray painting our last name in blaze orange on lawn chairs when we went camping!), and apparently when I took this pot to college, he thought it should be marked with the family name.  HAHA

At any rate, here is the bottom of the pot - marked with my Dad's writing of "LARSEN."  It could possibly be my Mom that wrote it, but it sure looks like Dad's all-caps writing and it definitely was HIS tendency to 'mark his territory,' so to speak. 

This particular pot is long past its prime, but it's one that I will most likely never get rid of because of this marking on the bottom.  It was an old pot when I took it to college in 1995, so it's almost an antique, eh?  Apparently it's something that Dad wanted to make an heirloom of sorts, or something like that.  :)  I just like it because it reminds me that he was looking out for me when I took things off to college away from home, even though it was just an old cooking pot......good memories........

List Friday

Top Reasons I WON'T Shop On Black Friday Morning

1.  Waiting in line is one of my hugest pet peeves

2.  Most of the stuff that is on sale I don't need

3.  I hate getting up crazy early in the morning

4.  I don't particularly want to get trampled and have my last memory on earth be the Walmart entryway.

5.  One perk of not having much family is that you don't have a ton of people to buy for, which makes shopping less necessary.

6.  I don't have to buy into the idea that Christmas is about wrapping paper and presents.

7.  Dealing with stupid people makes me insanely annoyed.......and there are a LOT of them out there on Black Friday!

Thanksgiving!

Owen's First Year

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded of a little 10-pound wiggly, orange creature that I'm especially thankful for this year.  It was one year ago that Maggie and I welcomed Owen into our home and our family. 

I had been toying around with the idea of getting another dog for a long time and finally decided to do it - and then I found Owen on a dachshund rescue group's website.  His name at the time was Cory and his foster Mom said that he might bark at me and not to feel bad when I visited him........well, when Maggie and I showed up, he not only didn't bark at us, he leaped up in my lap and gave me a big sloppy puppy kiss!  His foster mom was shocked and I ended up taking him home that day!

That was Thanksgiving weekend last year - I cannot believe that a whole year has gone by already.  He has brought excitement, playfulness, companionship, naughtiness and everything in between into our house.  Even with the barking and digging issues that he brought, I still wouldn't trade him for the world - I love my little Owen!

Roadtrip Withdrawals

I am going through crazy withdrawals lately - from what you ask?  ROADTRIPS!  My spending has come to a screeching halt this fall, due to my impending layoff at work.....so consequently, non-essential travel has stopped (except for the little trip to Canton a couple weeks ago).  This is making me nuts because I am getting DFW Fever (similar to cabin fever) - I need a change of scenery, STAT.

I need to see new places and experience new things or I get restless and stuck in a rut.  There are several places I want to travel to this year, but all of that has been put on hold for obvious reasons.  Ugh.  While I love being at home with the pups, and I love DFW, at the same time I also love exploring and seeing other places.  April, Lauren and I were supposed to take a roadtrip to Nashville in October, but it got postponed because of my job ending and the uncertainty of future income.  I was so disappointed!

This fall (really, this whole year) has been very difficult emotionally, mentally and professionally and getting out of town has provided the respite that I need and want.  I cannot WAIT to get back into the habit of skipping town on a regular basis to explore the expanse of Texas on the weekends!

Facebook is CRAZY Popular

I found this post from Digitalbuzz blog and I found it intriguing - enjoy!


Facebook Statistics, Stats and Facts for 2011 are starting to roll out, and here is the first infographic to wrap them all up thanks to Online Schools. With over 500 million users, Facebook is now used by 1 in every 13 people on earth, with over 250 million of them (over 50%) who log in every day. The average user still has about 130 friends, but that should expand in 2011.

48% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up, with 28% doing so before even getting out of bed. The 35+ demographic is growing rapidly, now with over 30% of the entire Facebook user base. The core 18-24 year old segment is now growing the fastest at 74% year on year. Almost 72% of all US Internet users are on now Facebook, while 70% of the entire user base is located outside of the US.

Over 700 Billion minutes a month are spent on Facebook, 20 million applications are installed per day and over 250 million people interact with Facebook from outside the official website on a monthly basis, across 2 million websites. Over 200 million people access Facebook via their mobile phone. 48% of young people said they now get their news through Facebook. Meanwhile, in just 20 minutes on Facebook over 1 million links are shared, 2 million friend requests are accepted and almost 3 million messages are sent.

List Friday

Top 5 Reasons To Own A Gun

1.  Personal protection - if someone breaks in your house, can defend yourself, your family, your pets and your property.

2.  You are exercising your 2nd Amendment rights, rights that our military has given their lives to defend.

3.  Since the current administration wants to get rid of individual rights and have them control everything, it is good to buy some person protection for yourself while you still can......

4.  It's something that is good to have on a roadtrip in the car.  You never know what kind of situation you could find yourself in at a dark gas station late at night!

5.  Just having it makes you feel safer, more empowered and more in control over your property and your destiny.  :)

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for cooking lessons from my Mom - in my very own kitchen!  Since I only see her 2 times a year, this is a big deal - even if it's a normal thing for other people.  She visited last weekend and I asked her to show me her grilling skills.  I bought steak and potatoes and she worked her magic! 

The steaks came out great and the potatoes (cut up in pieces with olive oil and rosemary - all in a foil package) were perfect.  She showed me how long to cook everything, where to put it on the grill and when to flip the steak.  It was a super yummy dinner and one of the ONLY times I have sat around my kitchen table over a REAL meal with FAMILY members.  I know that probably sounds very routine and normal, but it's a special occasion for me and I am very thankful.  This was MY "Thanksgiving" with family.  :)

Premature Decoration

So.......this year I put my Christmas tree up on November 7th - what of it??  Apparently there are some folks who think that's a big deal (I am not one of them, obviously).  Why?  I have gotten to the point where I just embrace the parts of the holidays that I enjoy and forget the rest. 

Decorating my house and enjoying the lighted tree is still one of the parts of the holidays that I love and so I want to get at it as soon as possible, before I get sad about some other parts of the holidays.  Thanksgiving and Christmas were designed to be 'family time' and since that's just not where my life is right now, I find them kind of depressing or empty.  But in an effort to stay positive and enjoy what I can, I embrace decorating, looking at Christmas lights, etc. and run with them!  I start early and immerse myself in all of the prep work to get my house in Christmas mode.  It's a lot of work for one person to do, so I want to enjoy it for the longest time possible.  :)

I think that the people who have the most issues with starting the holidays early are the ones who aren't thinking outside of the box and expanding their vision of the holidays past what they 'have always done'.  My family ALWAYS (and I mean ALWAYS) put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  My Dad would get the tree out and put it up and us girls would put the ornaments on and then decorate the house.  It was a tradition......but times have changed.  My parents sold the house I was raised in and moved up north, we went away to college and then got our own places, got married, moved away, etc.  Times changed, and so those traditions died and were buried in our memories.  I just have to make new traditions and roll with the changes - and one of those changes in my world is putting up the tree whenever I damn well please!  hahaha!

Packin' Heat

Last weekend my Mom came into town and she insisted that I buy a gun because of the instability of the economy and politics in our country.  I had been meaning to get one since I moved to Texas, but just never got around to it......well it was time!

We went to Academy Sports and a super awesome guy named Frank showed us various guns and all of the features of each one.  He answered my 500 questions with a smile and was very helpful.  He found the perfect gun for me - a Ruger 380 semi-automatic pistol!  Here it is:

 

The clip holds 6 bullets, so if I ever have an intruder come into my house, they will be met with 6 hollow point bullets (shown below):

 

I guess they really pack a punch because they mushroom out into a bigger area once they hit their target.  Good - efficient, I like that!

I feel much more empowered and safe now - my new gun is loaded (I loaded it myself!) and ready to go if I need it.  Now I just need to go to a gun range and practice with it so that I'm comfortable using it. 

Hurray for the 2nd Amendment!

Flamenco!

At the Texas State Fair, one of the things I really wanted to see was the Flamenco dancers!  Flamenco dancing is big in Spain, so it reminds me of my time there during college.  The colors are so pretty and the dancing can be very intense - very neat to watch.

Here are the dancers getting started:

There were a bunch of ladies and then one guy.  He was a great dancer.....

The big poofy red dresses were gorgeous!

Their movements were very fluid and romantic......

The guy dancer was very dramatic - I loved it!

You really couldn't get the total feel of Flamenco because the 'floor' wasn't a wood floor so their shoes didn't make as much clicking sounds as they normally would.....

Very colorful dresses, although I prefer the bright red ones......

It's all about the rhythm and the guy dancer had a lot of it.

All of the lady dancers had flowers in their hair - so pretty......

The guy didn't participate in some of the dances - he kept rhythm with the castanets in his hands.

I need to find a place that does Flamenco dancing on a regular schedule in the Dallas area - it's such a beautiful dance to watch!

List Friday

Top 5 Things I Like To Do To Cheer Myself Up

1.  Get a massage (no-brainer)

2.  Go on a roadtrip/get out of town

3.  Laugh with my good friends

4.  Go to a movie by myself and escape my own life for a couple hours

5.  Go to the dog park with Maggie & Owen and play with all of the dogs

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for a sore throat.  Weird, eh?  Well, the kind of sore throat I am thankful for is the one you get from laughing so hard and so much that it makes your throat ache.  That happened last weekend when I took a day trip out to Canton (east of Dallas) with April, Lauren & Kelly. 

I was very down the day before and was feeling lethargic, apathetic and just generally not real happy......but as soon as I got in Lauren's Jeep on Saturday morning (at 6:30am no less!), things changed quickly and we were laughing our butts off ALL day.  We got home around 10:30pm and I had the most fantastic day.  I didn't mind one single bit that my throat hurt from laughing so hard all day - what a great thing to be thankful for!!

Recycled Wind

At the Texas State Fair, we stumbled upon this strange display that involved a combination of license plates from all over the country and windmills - weird!  I was intrigued and had to check it out.....

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see that the bases of the windmills are in the shapes of several states, each one covering a few states in that region.

I like this next picture the best - gives the front view of the windmill with the Cotton Bowl Stadium in the background.  They were made from REAL license plates and they were AWESOME!  What a neat idea!!